For a long time now ive wanted to try this, I wanted some live edge wood, but well i cant afford it but i can afford pallets (you know because they are free!)

So i tried to turn a board from a pallet into a live edge piece.

I would love to hear from you as to if this looks like live edge or if it just looks like another pallet project.

If you fancy seeing trying it out for yourself check out the video and let me know how you got on!

I hope you enjoy!

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Step 1: Cutting Out the Shape

This is a piece of pallet that i had already prepped meaning its planed square and flat.

So i tried to draw out what i thought looked like live edge, this is quite hard as the whole point of live edge is that its natural and the fact ive never had a piece of live edge didn't help either!

Anyway once i had drawn out my reference i made a lot of relief cuts and went on cutting it out, not caring about a clean or straight line.

Step 2: Rasp & File

Once i had it to the shape i though looked good i consulted the magical google and noticed most pieces have a cured side and a straight side.

So i used a series of rasps and files to curve over the front edge as well as sort of smoothing the cut lines.

Basically i just rasped then checked and rasped again until i was happy with the shape of it.

Step 3: Sanding

Now i had the shape and look i wanted i sanded the edge from 80 grit to 240 grit trying to keep the shape i had just made but smoothing it to the touch.

Step 4: Progress With Stain

I applied 1 coat of dark oak stain to the piece and let it dry , this is where i started to tell i was on the right track for what i wanted.

I had a somewhat positive feedback from Instagram - i asked wither it looked anything like a live edge piece and a few people said yes it did.

Step 5: Turn It Into Something

As this was a practice for a bigger project and i mainly wanted to see what people thought or if i was just kidding myself into thinking you could turn a pallet into a live edge piece, i didn't want to waste the wood either.

So i cut the board in half (ish) and chiseled out a 5mm deep channel to accept a pane of glass for a picture frame.

This was a bit of a pain because i was trying to keep the "live edge" but get the right depth across, but i just took my time and got there in the end.

Step 6: Sand & Stain

Next i sanded the area for the glass to 240 grit, and sanded the face of the boards to 500 grit to smooth it back down because the stain raises the grain.

Once it was smooth i applied another 2 coats of stain sanding at 500 between coats to keep it smooth to the touch.

Then i applied 3 coats of spray lacquer again sanding at 500 grit between coats.

Basically a lot of hand sanding because i hate myself.